Background – Considering the current challenges as regards to global warming, cleaner brick production has become an urgent need. In South Africa roughly half of all bricks are produced in state of the art automated tunnel kiln factories. The other half of the 5.5 billion clay bricks that are burned in this country each year, still come out of traditional clamp kilns. Their energy-efficiency is low and they are highly polluting. They directly hamper the health of the brick makers as well as that of the people living in the surroundings of the kilns. Moreover, burning bricks with that ancient technology is operationally inefficient and the quality of the bricks is minor. The South African Government and industry bodies recognize the need to reduce emissions caused by the bricks sector. Currently, respective regulation is being brought in line with European standards.

Project – The Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln is much more energy efficient, uses less fuel, causes less emissions and produces bricks of a higher quality. SDC is making this technology available to brick makers worldwide, in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. In South Africa, Swisscontact and the Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development (skat) are setting up a project aiming at spreading the Vertical Shaft Brick Kiln technology and at the same time improving the opportunities of the brick makers. Social baselines, training and facilitating the communication between government, industry and traditional brick makers are integral parts of the project. Three pilot kilns are currently being built. They will show how saving natural resources and reducing poverty can go hand in hand.